Hippo Rollers!

I stumbled upon the site of this rather oddly named device and immediately thought of Afrigadget. This is a really clever solution to a very common problem. These “Hippo Rollers” would be perfect in Botswana’s rural villages where there is normally a centrally located water supply and the soft Kalahari sand would provide no navigational obstacles. Currently residents make the daily trip to fill a container with water and then carry the heavy load back. (Normally it is woman doing this task I might add). I have seen wheel barrows being used for this purpose but the deep sand makes it rather difficult. Of course the real solution is to provide running water to each home. I am sure I dont know all the facts but it seems to me that this should be possible in Botswana as the population is relatively small (1.8 million) and the Government of Botswana has plenty of cash.

Yes Hippo Rollers are a great thing and furthermore because the transportation costs make them too expensive to ship from one factory the people behind it have set up a turn-key manufacturing set-up so investors can set up manufacturing centers in multiple places. Other innovative products that could be made with the same equipment could help make returns on the equipment investments quicker.

Another really smart thing about Hippo Rollers is the idea to sell advertising on the rollers–something the Play Pump people also factored in. Connecting water distribution with information is a smart idea. Following Hash’s brilliant work to help Africans get connected to the Internet, services like water haulers can help to solve the “last mile” problem–to get Internet into the homes in Africa.